A Mere—Brilliant—Sophist

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Posted by John West
4/23/2017 6:14 pm
#1

Hence, whereas the pop narrative would have it that Hume put forward novel and devastating objections that earlier philosophers like the medievals had never thought of, in fact from a Scholastic point of view, at least, all he had done was to revive elementary fallacies that had long before been exposed and refuted. (The eminent 20th-century philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe—herself influenced by Aquinas—famously described Hume as “a mere—brilliant—sophist.”)

Edward Feser, A Mere -- Brilliant -- Sophist.

 
Posted by John West
4/23/2017 6:27 pm
#2

I thought it might be helpful to start a resource thread to point those unfamiliar with scholastic criticisms of Hume to:

Edward Feser

• Hume, Science and Religion
• Empiricism versus Aristotelianism
• Hume, Cosmological Arguments, and the Fallacy of Composition
• A world of pure imagination
• Review of Harris on Hume
The problem of Hume's problem of induction

I think a lot of people in our neck of cyberspace probably take knowledge of them for granted.

Feel free to post links of your own.

 
Posted by Greg
4/24/2017 7:39 pm
#3

For Anscombe's comments in full (there are a few other quips), see the first three page of "Modern Moral Philosophy".

 


 
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